Attachment for gas water heaters



May 13, 1930.

A. H. FRANK 1,758,788

ATTACHMENT FOR GAS WATER HEATERS Filed Jan. 19, 1928 ATTORNEY Patented May 13, 1930 UNITED STATES ALEXANDER H. FRANK, OF COLUMBIA, PENNSYLVANIA ATTACHMENT FOR GAS TVATER HEATERS Application filed January 19, 1928. Serial N'o. 247,996.

The present invention is concerned with the provision of an attachment for the conventional type of gas water heater. An object of the invention is to provide means for utilizing fully or in part the waste heat from the gas heater which commonly escapes through a vent opening, and serves no useful purpose. A more specic object of the invention is to provide an attachment in the nature of a cowl which will serve to direct the hot gases and products of combustion escaping from the vent into intimate contact with the hot water discharge pipe before. such gases are dissipated into the air. There is thereby produced an additional heating effect and many of the heatunits now wasted are utilized for additionally heating water flowing upwardly in the hot water discharge pipe.

Another object of the invention is to pro- Vide an attachment of this character which may be readily applied to various conventional types of heaters now on the market. l

Still other objects are to provide an attachment of this character which will be rugged,

durable and etlicient in use, capable of convenient attachment to a heater and well suited to the requirements of economical manufacture.

With the above noted and other objects in View, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts as will be more fully hereinafter pointed out and set forth in the claims. The invention may be more fully understood from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in section showing an attachment em bodying the present invention in operative position on a water heater, which, with its hot water discharge pipe is indicated in dot and dash lines.

Fig. 2 is an elevational view taken at right angles to Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a top plan view of Fig. 1.

In the drawings numeral 10 to designate the body or casing of an ordinary gas water heater. This heater together with the usual hot water discharge I have used the reference` shown) escape through an opening 12 in the top of the casing 10; this opening being encircled by a short collar-'or iiange 13.

1n accordance with the present invention, l provide an attachment for directing the hot gases from the vent opening 12 around the 4 pipe 11 before the gases are dissipated into the air, so that many of the heating units which have heretofore been lost will be usefully employed to heat the pipe 11 and the up-flowing hot water stream therein.

The attachment preferably includes a collar portion 14 adapted to snugly encircle the iiange 13. A gas directing cowl member 15 is provided with an opening in its bottom, to which the collar 14 may be connected by spinning the edges of the collar over the edges of the opening as indicated at 16. One side of the cowl member 15 is open, terminating in a pair of approximately parallel plate portions 17 which straddle and are spaced from the vertical pipe 11. The inclined closed intermediate top edge of the cowl is also recessed as at 18 near its upper edge in order to snugly receive the pipe 11.

By virtue of this construction, gases escap ing through the vent opening 12 are directed by the collar 14 and cowl 15 around the discharge pipe 11, these gases being guided by the plate 17 into intimate heat-exchanging relationship with the pipe 11 and aiding materially in heating the water which is flowing up the ppe.

Gbvously, various changes and alterations might be made in the general form and arrangement of the parts described without departing from the invention. Hence I do not wish to limit myself to the details set forth, but shall consider myself at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

1 claim:

1. An attachment for gas water heaters having a vertical hot water discharge pipe,

including a bifurcated cowl member adapted to receive said pipe between the fureations thereof.

2. An attachment for gas water heaters having a vertical hot water discharge pipe, including a collar, a cowl member carried by said collar, said cowl member having an opening wider than the diameter of said pipe and notches adjacent said opening to receive said pipe.

3. An attachment for gas water heaters having a vertical hot water discharge pipe, including a collar, a cowl carried by said collar, said cowl including a bifurcated portion, the turca-tions of said portion extending longitudinally of said pipe and being spaced apart a distance greater than the diameter of said pipe and said furcations being adapted to receive said pipe therebetween.

Signed at Columbia7 in the county of Lancaster, and State of Pennsylvania, this 16th day of January, A. D. 1928.

ALEXANDER H. FRANK. 

